End of Dynasty

West of Jiangnan, on the Tea Horse Road.

The land lay parched, cracked into scar after scar beneath the blazing sun.

A massive caravan of several hundred camels and dozens of heavily laden horse-drawn wagons stretched out like a gray serpent.

Along both sides of the convoy.

More than a hundred guards attached to the caravan.

Each wore leather armor and carried weapons of every sort.

The guards vigilantly scanned both sides of the road, the dead shrubs, and the rolling forests in the distance.

The various goods carried by this mid-sized caravan bore the weight of their very lives and fortunes.

Several swift horses scouting ahead rode along the convoy's flank.

The scouts on horseback were talking.

"Fuck! In times like these, there's no damn way to live!"

"Isn't that the truth? Refugees and bandits are everywhere, blooming across the land!"

"A few years ago, they were only small bands of petty thieves. Now they showed up by the hundreds, even thousands."

"I heard the great bandits in the north even dared to besiege prefectural cities!"

"Heaven above won't leave us a way to live!"

"If this drought keeps up, Jiangnan will be eating people too..."

Not far away.

Chen Sheng rode a yellow horse, straight as a pine, his leather armor tightly wrapping his powerful body.

He held a twelve-foot steel spear, with a curved blade resting beside his saddle. A hardwood longbow and quiver swayed lightly behind him with the horse's gait.

Listening to their conversation.

Chen Sheng occasionally chimed in.

Relying on the formidable talent of Dragon's Vigor Tiger's Might.

In merely a few months.

Chen Sheng had grown another two handspans taller.

He now stood as tall as an ordinary sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth.

He had also used medicine to paint lines and marks of wind and sun onto his face.

Skillfully making himself look older.

When he spoke, he usually strained his vocal cords, making his voice sound rough.

He looked every inch a lean, capable young man.

Blended into the crowd, he did not stand out in the slightest!

After leaving Old Man Bai's home.

Chen Sheng had taken on the guise of a lone Jianghu wanderer.

He found several notorious corrupt gentry and local tyrants, made a few "capital-free deals," and smoothly acquired horses, leather armor, bows and arrows, blades, and spears.

Then he formally began his long journey.

His destination was the Secret Abode in Yan Land, a thousand li away.

In his first life, Chen Sheng had "gone down to Jiangnan seven times," and was fairly familiar with Jiangnan's geography.

Using the route map in his memories as reference, he quickly planned a route and rode without pause toward Yan Land.

However.

Chen Sheng had not expected that order was now in chaos, and the conditions were far worse than they had been in those days.

He had traveled barely two hundred li.

When Chen Sheng encountered several bands of roaming bandits.

Some numbered only dozens.

Others swarmed out in hundreds like locusts.

Fortunately, Chen Sheng was no slouch at protecting himself.

Arrows whistled through the air!

An arrow precisely nailed itself into the bandit leader's throat.

Killing the leader from afar.

And throwing them into chaos!

Then his long spear became a dragon.

Chen Sheng leveled his spear and charged into their formation alone.

The immense strength granted by Dragon's Vigor Tiger's Might, coupled with the impact of his fierce horse, allowed a single thrust to pierce through several bandits.

Then, with the momentum of the strike, he swept his curved blade and harvested another seven or eight roaming bandits.

Throwing everything into turmoil!

Chen Sheng was then able to blast a path through the encirclement and ride away in triumph!

"Another fifty years since the cycle of my previous life."

"According to the Dynastic Cycle, this counts as the end of a dynasty."

Chen Sheng rode slowly, his mind as clear as a mirror:

"Even Jiangnan, such a land of fish and rice, a place of wealth and luxury, is crawling with roaming bandits."

"Land annexation has clearly reached its limit."

"Natural disasters are the final straw that breaks the camel's back."

Along the way.

Chen Sheng's gaze remained indifferent.

He had seen far too many ragged refugees dragging their families along with them.

"By my calculations."

"What comes next is a reshuffling of the cards, a remaking of the rivers and mountains!"

Chen Sheng could already envision how the script would unfold.

If his prediction was correct.

Once rebel armies filled the land and shattered order everywhere, sweeping away all the original beneficiaries.

An "enlightened sage ruler" from a branch of the Royal Family would emerge, ascending the throne atop countless corpses.

This sort of script.

Chen Sheng had seen many times in the clan records when he had been Prince of Yan in his first life.

The nations around them.

Many royal descendants of immortals had done precisely this.

On Earth, the Han had been restored three times, and people called it destiny!

In the present age.

Never mind three restorations—even a hundred would not be impossible!

"It is, after all, a great age of the Immortal Path!"

"So long as the main lineage of the Cultivation World remains unbroken, Great Jing will forever be the Chen family's realm."

"This is what true Destiny Returns to Chen means."

Accumulated over two lives.

Chen Sheng now possessed three talents.

Low-grade Spiritual Root

Alchemy Prodigy

Dragon's Vigor Tiger's Might

At present.

The effects of Dragon's Vigor Tiger's Might were the most apparent.

Chen Sheng's bones and sinews were far denser than an ordinary person's.

Every gesture he made carried a faint force of wind and thunder, strength enough to lift a thousand jin.

As for his talent in alchemy.

Chen Sheng was gradually beginning to feel it as well.

Many complicated theoretical riddles from his previous life.

Chen Sheng could quickly reason through them.

He merely lacked opportunities for practice.

As for his Spirit Root.

Chen Sheng currently had no way to test his own attributes or aptitude.

He could only cultivate an attribute-less Qi-refining method.

—"Xi Chen Qi-Refining Art."

Moreover, this was a spirit-poor land of the mortal world; he could not even find the most basic cultivation grounds.

His cultivation speed was agonizingly slow!

After cultivating for more than a few months.

Chen Sheng had barely condensed ten strands of mana, enough to reluctantly support one basic spell before his Dantian was emptied.

Thus, Chen Sheng relied on his immense strength, combined with mortal horseback archery and martial skills, whenever he fought.

Several times, he had charged through enemy formations alone, breaking through hundreds!

The physical exertion was enormous, and he had been exhausted each time!

"Order still remains in Jiangnan, and government troops are still holding things down."

"The roaming bandits are scattered and only operate on a small scale."

"The bandits in other regions should be much larger in scale."

"Those so-called 'righteous armies' numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, dragging refugees in their wake, are no empty rumor."

Chen Sheng knew well that if he encountered a larger, better-organized army of roaming bandits, it would be difficult for him to repeat the feat of charging through their formation alone.

"When enough people gather momentum, they could tire me to death."

"Looks like it will be hard to reach my destination alone."

Chen Sheng pondered for a moment and decided to borrow another's momentum.

In a small city in Jiangnan.

During this half-month rest, Chen Sheng finally came across this caravan, impressive in both size and strength.

He observed it in secret:

"Over a hundred guards, all wearing leather armor, and their weapons are fairly fine as well. They should have no trouble dealing with over a thousand roaming bandits dragging commoners along."

After making some inquiries.

Though they were not heading for the same destination, their directions were similar, and they could travel together for a long stretch.

Thus.

Before a caravan steward.

Chen Sheng swiftly displayed his skill at mounted archery.

He rode out, drew his bow and set an arrow, then fired three arrows in succession through the centers of three targets swaying in the wind a hundred paces away.

The arrows did not lose momentum, burying themselves deep in an earthen wall!

Clean and crisp, precise and ruthless.

The caravan steward's eyes lit up:

"Fine skills, warrior. Would you be willing to travel with us as a guard? The pay is negotiable."

Chen Sheng clasped his fists, his voice hoarse:

"Nothing could please me more!"

One month later.

The caravan moved like a mobile fortress, weathering the harassment of several bands of roaming bandits head-on.

Whenever they came under attack.

Chen Sheng prowled along the flank, picking off leaders with his powerful bow while his blade and spear protected the rear of the convoy.

His calm ruthlessness earned him considerable respect and awe.

The convoy slowly advanced.

At last, it reached Hedong.

Willow Leaf City was now less than a hundred li away.

Chen Sheng thought to himself:

"Once I pass Willow Leaf City, my destination will be only two hundred li away."

"Closer and closer!"